22 SEP 2017 by ideonexus
Algorithms are Subjective/Creative Things
he algorithm may be the essence of computer science – but it’s not precisely a scientific concept. An algorithm is a system, like plumbing or a military chain of command. It takes knowhow, calculation and creativity to make a system work properly. But some systems, like some armies, are much more reliable than others. A system is a human artefact, not a mathematical truism. The origins of the algorithm are unmistakably human, but human fallibility isn’t a quality that we associate with ...Folksonomies: programming computer science
Folksonomies: programming computer science
1 
notes
notes09 NOV 2015 by ideonexus
Video Games Require the Scientific Method
Video games aren’t as easy as they seem
to the uninitiated. One cannot simply
sit down and immediately begin
shooting those aliens. One must first
learn how to play the game. Gee (2003)
suggests that skilled players learn to
play using a four-step probing process
(p. 90):
1. The player must probe the
virtual world by looking around
the current environment, clicking
on something, or engaging in a
certain action.
2. On the basis of the probing
results, the player must form a
hypothesis abou...Folksonomies: scientific method gamification
Folksonomies: scientific method gamification
1 notes
notes25 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
Kate Mills: Only "Scientists" Can Do Science
What we think we know about ourselves through science could be skewed, since the majority of psychology studies sample individuals who do not represent the population on a whole. These WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) samples make up the majority of non-clinical neuroimaging studies as well. Increased awareness of this bias has prompted researchers to actively seek out more representative samples. However, there is less discussion or awareness around the potential b...Folksonomies: citizen science
Folksonomies: citizen science
1 notes
notes21 JUN 2014 by ideonexus
CBN, Science, and Politics
When viewed closely, however, CBN‘s and Robertson‘s openness to science seems less about a conservative Christian paradigmatic shift and more about CBN‘s relationship with the public. CBN‘s devotion to engagement with mainstream culture inevitably requires engagement with science because science is inextricably interwoven into the secular realm, which Robertson hopes to influence. CBN is a mix of fundamentalist, evangelical, charismatic, Catholic, and Protestant Christians brought tog... 1 notes
notes21 APR 2014 by ideonexus
Science was Inconvenient for Religion
Science’s contributions to the spread of disbelief is the least controversial segment of the virtuous cycle for which I am arguing in seventeenth-century Europe. For science’s methods are clearly troublesome for religion. The devout, to begin with, are not wont to view their precepts merely as propositions to be controverted or confirmed. The orthodox, as a rule, are used to arguments being settled by authority, not experiment. The hope belief offers does not always stand up well to obser... 1 notes
notesAs scientific knowledge grew it revealed knowledge that conflicted with scripture.
18 APR 2014 by ideonexus
Early Statement on the Scientific Method
The seeker after truth is not one who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them, but rather the one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he gathers from them, the one who submits to argument and demonstration and not the sayings of human beings whose nature is fraught with all kinds of imperfection and deficiency. Thus the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to...Folksonomies: science scientific method
Folksonomies: science scientific method
1 notes
notesFrom Alhazen.
11 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
How China and the West May Compliment One Another
The distinctive merit of our civilization, I should say, is the scientific method; the distinctive merit of the Chinese is a just conception of the ends of life. It is these two that one must hope to see gradually uniting.
Lao-Tze describes the operation of Tao as "production without possession, action without self-assertion, development without domination." I think one could derive from these words a conception of the ends of life as reflective Chinese see them, and it must be admitted that...
1 The West has science, which is the essence of rationality, while China has the ethics, an outlook on life that cherishes knowledge and happiness over material gains.
30 JUL 2013 by ideonexus
Aristotle as the First Scientist
Aristotle repeatedly pointed out that his predecessors' work and conclusions were often marred by insufficient observation. He himself, after a remarkable analysis of the reproduction of bees, states that he cannot arrive at certain conclusions because "the facts have not yet been sufficiently ascertained. And if at any future time they are ascertained, then credence must be given to the direct evidence rather than to the theories; and to the theories also, provided that the results which the... 1 notes
notesClassification of animals, empirical observations... he got much wrong, but to call into question his achievements for this is like criticizing the invention of Calculus because Newton believed in magic.
08 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Rational Potter Plots to Take Over the Magical World
Professor McGonagall undoubtedly knew every last detail of how you went about turning into a cat. But she seemed to have literally never heard of the scientific method. To her it was just Muggle magic. And she didn't even seem curious about what secrets might be hiding behind the natural language understanding of the Retrieval Charm.
That left two possibilities, really.
Possibility one: Magic was so incredibly opaque, convoluted, and impenetrable, that even though wizards and witches had ... 1 notes
notesThrough science!
23 MAR 2013 by ideonexus
The Scientific Method is About the "Elementary"
When we think of the scientific method, we tend to think of an experimenter in his laboratory, probably holding a test tube and wearing a white coat, who follows a series of steps that runs something like this: make some observations about a phenomenon; create a hypothesis to explain those observations; design an experiment to test the hypothesis; run the experiment; see if the results match your expectations; rework your hypothesis if you must; lather, rinse, and repeat. Simple seeming enoug...Folksonomies: scientific method mindfulness
Folksonomies: scientific method mindfulness
1 notes
notesEven academicians working in the most erudite realms of knowledge are working from a foundation of firmly-established elementary principles.
